Romeo's Rising 2: Let the Games Begin
by chaosphoenix123
Summary: The GMG finally kicks off but Romeo and the others are too busy fighting for their lives to enjoy it and in the capital, danger is around every corner. Now watch as Romeo deals with powerful new foes, five girls chasing after his heart, a ninja as a rival, and Acnologia stuck in his human form making his life difficult. Prepare thyself, Crocus, for black wings descend upon you.
1. Another Reunion

_**Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail.**_

_**A/N: I took the last three chapters of the first story to jump-start the sequel. **_ _**I hope to get to this more early next year once I do some chapters for "Elemental Summoner" and "Last Fire Mage"****  
**_

**Prologue **_**  
**_

**Another Reunion**

_**Down the Main Road of Crocus**_

"**You think he would have come back and try to find us",** Acnologia grumbled as he and Gildarts made their way to the coliseum where the games were to be held.

"Are you in a grubby mood because you didn't see in anyone panicking like you thought they would?", Gildarts asks as he trekked alongside his nemesis, cause they sure as hell weren't friends.

"**Patience, Crash vermin, no doubt the closer we get to the place of this spectacle your people call a game, the more we'll see humanity true colors", **Acnologia stated, before a scene up ahead caught his attention, **"It would seem that the military is out in force this morning."**

Gildarts turns his glaze to where Acnologia was looking, only to make out a large contingent of troops approaching them.

"That must be at least a company coming our way", Gildarts he says, "Try not to divert their attention toward us, will ya?"

Acnologia grumbled something and Gildarts sworn he heard something along the lines of, "Sexy dragon", but chose to ignore it.

The duo step off to the side to along the company to pass by, Gildarts keeping his eyes ever forward. Out of the corner of his eyes, he did catch someone wearing a different attire than the rest of the men there, something more along the lines of formal wear and actual armor. When the last group marched on by, he turned around and caught a better view of the person who was in the dead center of the formation. It was a woman, and judging by the clothes she wore and the crown of top of her head...

"Well, would you look at that? The Royal Family is out as well!", he said as he turns to Acnologia, "Well, that's not something you see every day!"

But something was off about Acnologia, he was staring back at the retreating form of the same lady that Gildarts was looking at. His eyes were wide and his jaw slightly dropped.

**"It can't be.", **he said aloud.

"Huh? You okay there", Gildarts asks right before the Dragon King took off down the road, following the army company.

"What are you doing?", Gildarts shouted as he took off after him, "Get back here!":

**"Why here? Why now?",** Acnologia spoke as the company round a corner and he was forced to take to the rooftops to keep up with them while staying out of sight. As he crosses the building were ease, he focuses is entirety on the center figure. Her green flowing hair, her grass-colored eyes, she was as beautiful as the day he first met her all those centuries ago.

The formation halts in the middle of a nearby neighborhood, and the woman sounded off a list of orders that were carried out by the soldiers as they disperse. Acnologia took shelter on a roof nearby, keeping his body press to the tiles in an effort to conceal himself from view. He rears his head up to take one more look at the woman and is shocked to find her looking straight back at him, her eyes staring into his.

The two of them were lost in their moment, completely obvious to the rest of the world. Neither one moving let alone breathing.

**"Aervia," **escapes Acnologia's lips as he stares at the woman only for a random guard to interrupted them by coming to make a report.

"Sergeant Roger, here to report! My men and I have found no trace of-", the guard started before stopping upon seeing that the person he was reporting to wasn't paying him no mind. In fact, her attention was focused on a nearby roof.

"Princess Hisui, are you alright? Is there something a matter?"

**A/N: Everything has changed. I did describe Aervia as having green hair and green eyes, which Princess Hisui has.  
**


	2. Let The Games Begin

**Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail, Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, Pathfinder, or D&D.**

**A/N: Let's see how this goes.**

**Chapter 1**

**Let The Games Begin**

"Damnation!

"Destruction! "

"Doom!"

"That is what awaits this world! That is what awaits all who reside in it! We ignore the signs given to us over seven years ago and went about our pathetic lives but the gods don't forget and they rarely forgive! We live in a world where adultery, debauchery, and fornication, run rampant in society! A world where we abuse magic, the gift given to us by the generous gods, for our own selfish needs and desires! A world where the greatest violators of this gift use it to prey upon the helpless and innocent! The patience of the gods isn't infinite and now it's our time to pay the price! They have done away with the subtlety of thundering floods, shattering earthquakes, and mighty hurricanes and have now once again unleashed their living embodiment of the apocalypse upon us, Acnologia, the Bringer of The End! Whose mere flapping of his wings can create enormous craters that can engulf entire countries and whose breath can turn whole continents into ash! Each one of his claws and talons resembles one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and his tail alone can make a single civilization disappear from the pages of history forever overnight! What we witnessed last night was nothing more than a mere sample of the devastation that will soon be wreck upon us! And to those that would still have the audacity to doubt my words, look upon thee at was once the beautiful mountain that tower over the capital; reduce to nothing in mere moments! We are but fleas in the grand scope of life, who the gods can easily wipe out whenever they seem fit to do so! Every single breath we take is a gift from the heavens on high that can easily be snuffed out at a moment's notice! Repent, my children! For the end is nigh and everlasting darkness will soon engulf the world! Only those who have thrown themselves on their knees and beg for forgiveness will be spare Armageddon! Only those who have forsaken all the temptations of the flesh and given themselves to the heavens will be welcome into the gods' loving arms while the sinners who do not change their ways are forever sentenced to live out an eternity within the tormenting flames of Hell!"

"Repent!"

"Repent!"

"The End is upon us!"

Romeo, from across the grounds, watches the doomsayer priest scream at the crowd that has gathered, and could only shake his head in annoyance.

"Oh great, here we go again", he says to himself while looking around, wondering where a certain dragon was, "I hope he doesn't get wind of this, his ego is still bloated from the last time this crap happens."

Romeo regards the area around him, "Seriously, where is though? And Gildarts for that matter? I could really use some advice here."

The boy thinks about what he just said for a moment before shaking his head, "Amazing, I'm one of the few guild members that has a dad that's still alive and I'm going to the genocidal dragon and the womanizer for advice. Is my relationship with my old man really that bad?"

Romeo had to admit that over the past few years Macao hasn't exactly been father of the year material. Sure, Romeo has been keeping secrets from him but seeing how he still hasn't told him anything about his mom, he guesses they could call it even. And while Acnologia hasn't exactly been the best role model, he was still around whenever Romeo needed him, granted he didn't have a choice and he didn't always give the best advice, but still, it was something.

Romeo's thoughts are interrupted by a familiar intruder that spoke directly into his mind, "**Little vermin."**

"_Holy crap, you're still around. So where exactly are you right now?"_

"**I'm a little busy trying to lose the Royal Princess and her guard detail which is currently following behind me from a short distance away", **was his reply.

…

...

...

"_I'm going to pretend that for a brief moment there, I went deaf and that I didn't hear what you just said", _Romeo eventually says.

"**You can't use the deaf excuse when someone is speaking directly into your mind", **Acnologia explains.

"_I can sure as hell try."_

"**Regardless, I am currently being tail by the Royal Princess and her guards. They seem to be keeping their distance at the moment, but that could change real quick", **Acnologia said as he enters the main square in front of the Coliseum, "**I can sense that you're right in front of me**, **so just stand there casually and when I move past you, start walking to the main entrance of the arena, without looking at me."**

"_And what about Gildarts?"_

"**You mean the Crash Vermin? He went another way around to where the rest of your fellow vermin were meeting so not to arouse suspicion while walking with me."**

"_Okay, two things; what the hell did you do? Second, how the hell did you convince him to do that? He was ordered by Master Makarov to keep an eye on you and prevent you from destroying something."_

"**Funny, he told me that exact same thing and you know what I told him? What's stopping me from doing that while he was standing right next to me?"**

Romeo moves to respond with what seems like the most obvious answer, Acno's power being greatly depleted when he stopped himself and read between the lines of the dragon's statement. Gildarts may now be just a little bit more powerful than Acno but that didn't mean the Dragon King would go down in a couple of punches, even if they were from the ace of Fairy Tail; add to the fact that Acno has millenniums of battle experience over Gildarts and he might just come out on top, despite the power difference. Also, a battle between the two of them would no doubt cause untold destruction throughout the capital and that would be before anyone else even got involved. Now Romeo knew why Acno didn't protest Gildarts being assign to watch over him, thousands of people, if not more, were only alive right now due to his good graces and self-control.

"**I can tell that you have already come up with the answer yourself. That's good because it saves me having to explain it to you."**

"_Stay out of my head."_

"**Yeah, cause I listen to you the first fifty times you told me to do that", **Acnologia said.

"_You still haven't answered my first question; why is Princess Hisui following you?"_

"**I'm surprised you actually believe me on that part."**

_"__You do have the tendency to cause the greatest amount of trouble in the shortest amount of time."_

"**Fair point, I'll give you that. But anyway, ****I'll spare you the details of the matter, just know that no one's dead, at least not by my hands anyway", **Acnologia states as he walks pass Romeo some ten feet to his left.

"_This doesn't reassure me one bit", _Romeo voices as he spots him out the corner of his eye and begins walking as well.

"**That's me, Mr. Reassuring Guy", **as the two of them made their way to the front gates.

From the direction that Acnologia came through, Princess Hisui arrives with at least fifty guards in tow as she stops at the edge of the square and observes the crowd, looking for her target.

"_I know I saw that man head this way, so where did he go?", _as she scans through the multitude of faces that have gathered for the games. Either by the graces of the gods or through sheer luck she was able to spot the mass of wild dark blue hair, walking toward the front gates.

"_There he is", _as she begins to make her way toward him, only to stop upon realizing her surroundings. The square was pack to the brim with people. Any confrontation here might go south, especially if this man was a mage. With the people still on edge because of last night and the doomsayers feeding their fear, any little thing could set them off. The man has unknowingly, or worse willingly, walk into a powder keg just waiting to explode and all it took was a tiny spark.

"Sergeant Roger", she calls to the man next to her.

"Yes, your highness?", as he pops to attention.

"I want you to place a couple of your men at every exit of the Domus Flau grounds and make sure that the man we've been tailing does not leave without me knowing. The rest of your men, including yourself, are to don civilian attire and monitor his movement. You are to observe from a distance and take no action unless he endangers civilian lives. Do you understand? You are only to observe him", she explains.

"Understood, your majesty!", the Sergeant salutes as he begins relaying the orders to the rest of the men, leaving Princess Hisui alone with her thoughts.

"_That man seems familiar for some reason, but I can't place where. Why didn't give the alarm when I spotted him on the roof looking down at me? I didn't even give the order to follow him until around a minute after he left", _as she looks to see the man in question disappearing into the arena among the throng of spectators, "_Something big is going down and my instincts are telling me that he may be a part of it."_

At that moment, a flash of purple hair catches her attention and her eyes raise slightly in surprise, "_Is that the Fairy Killer kid again? I must say, I have been seeing him quite a lot lately. I think I saw him last night right before-"_

Princess Hisui gasps as certain events start replaying in her mind and she turns to Sergeant Roger once more, "I need you to go to the Rune Knights and get me the profile sheets of the magic guild, Fairy Tail."

**Domus Flau**

"**You can stop looking at me like that", **Acnologia says as he tries to ignore the heated glare that was being sent his way by the teenager, "**It's starting to displease me and unlike other things that displease me, I can't simply destroy you."**

"Sucks to be you", was Romeo's response as he crosses his arms, "What did you do?"

"**Like I said before, nothing."**

"Must have been something to have the Princess chasing after you."

"**Most likely a misunderstanding", **Acnologia shrugs as he picks on three distinct presences nearby. One of them was new to him but the other two seem familiar. It seems that they were all trying to conceal themselves and doing a pretty good job at it; using the roar of the crowd to mask their footsteps as well as sticking to the shadows while approaching the empty hallway that he and Romeo were using to have their discussion.

If Acnologia would have been a pure human, he more than likely wouldn't have sensed them approaching. Though the fact that Romeo once again failed to pick up on them infuriated him to no end.

"**Stay here, I have some business to handle", **Acnologia said as he began to walk away.

"Huh?", was all Romeo had time to get out before the dragon vanishes right in front, "The fuck he go?"

"_Hey, kid", _a voice pierces into Romeo's mind a moment later.

"_Who's this?", _Romeo asks.

"_This is Madam Ekate", _the voice responded.

"_How are you in my mind?", _Romeo wonders.

"_I think the bigger question is why are you being so calm about me being in your mind. Normally, people would start freaking out."_

"_Guess I gotten used to it over the years", _Romeo replies, "_Wait a minute, where are you?"_

"_At the inn", _she replies.

"_I thought you were going to watch the games."_

"_And miss out catching up with Porlyusica?", _she asks and Romeo could basically feel her smiling, "_Just kidding, right now old Porly is making everything ready to move your two friends to the infirmary in the arena. I'm stayed behind to give her a hand despite the fact that she explicitly said that she didn't want any of the other idiots helping her cause she felt that they would do more harm than good but of course, I'm going to help her anyway just to catch up on old times._

"_What is your history with Porlyusica? I have never seen her so riled up before."_

"_Trust me, kid. If I told you, you would never look at her the same again", _Madam Ekate laughs.

"_Ooooookay?"_

"_Putting that aside, for now, think you ought to get back here before we leave", _Madam Ekate tells him, "_I have noticed two suspicious strange men walking about outside the building all morning, almost like their waiting for something. They both have a draconic affinity to them."_

"_And that means….?"_

"_It means that they're more than likely employ by a dragon. I would like to get Acnologia but he would probably cause more of a scene and that's the last thing he needs right now. I can't contact Makarov, Gildarts, or Mavis because their disappearances would be noticed, but I figure yours wouldn't."_

"_Ouch", _Romeo winces, "_Cutting a little deep into my self-esteem there. I can see why you and Acno are such good friends."_

"_Truth hurts, kid. I don't have to be a member of your guild to tell that you're not held in the high esteem."_

Romeo could only growl at the comment.

"_Anyway, back to the matter at hand. For all I know this could be nothing. If anything, your presence made at least delay them from acting until more people arrive if their intentions aren't as noble as we hope. It's almost a ghost town over here due to the games.", _Madam Ekate explains, "_There are only like a dozen City Guards walking around and that alone may be keeping them at bay."_

"_Can't you do something about them should they try something? You seem to be extremely well-versed in magic", _Romeo points out.

"_My magic can't be used in that way and plus, I'm not supposed to get directly involve."_

"_What do you mean by that?"_

"_I'll explain another time, kid. Or maybe Acnologia could tell you whenever he gets that stick out of his ass. Anyway, the point is that I need you here fast. I also noticed that they keep looking and pointing at the room where your blue-haired friend is sleeping in."_

…_._

…_._

"_Kid? You still there? The guys have vanished for now, but not before I felt one of them give off a strange aura. I can't pinpoint it but-"_

But Romeo was ignoring Madam Ekate as he was now taking off toward the hotel. He was so focused on getting back as quickly as he could that he nearly ran into Katja, Deez, and Lindsay as the trio turn the corner.

"Ahhhh!", Katja yells out as Romeo stops himself from colliding with her, "Romeo! There you are, we've been looking for you!"

"Yeah, where the hell have you been?", Lindsay scowls as she crosses her arms, "We need to talk about my da-"

Romeo holds up a hand to silence her, "No time, need to get back to the hotel. Katja, I think the guy from last night is back and he may have help now."

**Scene Break**

"Jellal, are you sure the presence you felt is around here?", Meredy asks as Crime Sorciere made their way through the empty corridors, "We been walking around for quite a while now."

"We're getting closer to this new presence whose darkness rivals, if not surpasses Zeref himself", Jellal responded.

"But the teams are about to be presented soon, should you not be there?", Ultear asks, "Your compatriots will not take kindly to this, especially the one who uses lightning."

"I am only investigating the presence and verifying it. Once I have done that I will leave you two to it", he whispers as he stops at the turn of the corner and peeks around.

"Well", Meredy whispers next to his ear, "Is the person there?"

"No, no one is there. But I'm sure that they were", Jellal replies, "In fact, I can still feel it."

"Maybe your sense is acting up", Ultear tries to reassure him.

"**Oh no, I think his ability to sense darkness is working quite well, a little too well if you ask me." **a voice taunts them from above and the trio snaps their neck up to see a man covered in blue tattoos and dark blue untamed hair sitting up in the corner of the ceiling, using one the support beams as a seat. The man smiles down at them in a way that would remain one of a predator eyeing its prey, "**But then again, I'm as dark as they come, aren't I, you sneaky vermin?"**

**Scene Break**

"Okay, Lindsay, Katja, while I'm happy to see that you two are willing to put aside your feelings for Wendy in this situation, I believe that this would go a lot smoother if you two weren't ARGUING BACK AND FORTH WHILE WE WERE HUNDREDS OF FEET IN THE AIR!", Romeo screams, only to be ignored, as he flew above the capital on-top of Valefor's back right smack dab in the middle of Katja who was upfront and Lindsay who was in the back. The two girls have been arguing about Romeo's sitting arrangement for the past ten minutes and quite frankly, it was starting to edge him a little.

"_This is no different than the train ride here", _Romeo mentally grumbles and he heard Deez chuckle from his position in Katja's arms.

"Why do you get to sit behind Romeo?", Katja barks through the rushing wind, but her voice was loud enough to be heard.

"Well, this is your summon so you have to be the one to control and navigate it through the skies. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for you to sit up front.", Lindsay smug as her grip around Romeo's waist tighten and she presses her chest more into his back. Romeo himself was trying to be a gentleman and instead used the back of Valefor as a gripping mechanism, all the while trying to keep his hormones under control.

"Be that as it may, you don't need to cling so tightly to him!", Katja snarls.

"But we're going so fast! What if I get bump off; that would be devastating!", Lindsay swoons, even going as far as putting the back of her hand to her forehead.

"Your face is devastating", Katja grumbles as she spots the hotel, "There it is, but I don't see anyone around the inn."

"Yeah, me either", Lindsay adds before looking at Romeo, "And you still haven't told us how you knew that Wendy might be in danger."

"I just had a bad feeling, okay?", Romeo lied, knowing full well that he shouldn't tell them about Madam Ekate. Also, the fact that while he didn't see Yudiea he definitely smells him, "Let's just get inside for now."

**In an alleyway outside the hotel**

"Shit, those kids are back, including the one that killed Budida", Yudiea cursed from his position in the at the back of the alley as he watches Romeo and the others land in front of the hotel and made their way inside while Valefor was desummon, "Why did we wait? Mvarid pick up the girl's sense here at hours ago, so we could have struck then!", he yells at the man whose body was covered in a hooded grey cloak standing a yard away from him.

"Patience", as the figure floated next to Yudiea, setting him on edge. He then felt a finger gently slide along his neck, "What you need here is patience, Yudiea, was it? Our master demands victory in all that we do and to achieve that, sometimes patience is required."

When Yudiea met up with this man, who simply went by the name "Zero", in the Western marketplace before the sun rose, he was actually expecting someone like him and Budida, intimidating in the very least. But what he got was this seemingly lanky man who hides his face. Though if the reaction he got out of Mvarid was anything to go off of, Yudiea had to be cautious around him. If anything, it was because he held such a much higher rank in Master Cinolth's legion than either himself or the late Budida could have ever hope to reach. Trending lightly was the most reasonable step, so he would do best to watch his tongue.

"Apologize", Yudiea says, "I forget my place."

"That you do", Zero shrugs, "But as long as you mind yourself from here on out and help me accomplish our master's task, all will be forgiven. Who knows? I might even put in a good word for you with Master Cinolth."

Yudiea gasps, "You would do that?"

"I said might", Zero repeated as walks to the front of the alley in full-view of the inn and points at the boy who was now watching them from across the street, "Now tell me everything you know about the boy."

**Inside the Hotel**

"That's definitely the man from last night", Romeo confirms as he, Katja, Deez, and Lindsay, make themselves comfortable within Wendy and Carla's room. The Sky Dragon-Slayer and her companion woke up a short while after their arrival and were currently being brought up to speed by the Grand Summoner while Deez was napping on the bed. Porlyusica and Madam Ekate with the latter informing the former on the current situation; though if the potion master's face was anything to go off of, she would rather have been anywhere else but there with the woman.

"Okay, so that's the man you and Katja fought last night. Okay, the question now is what is he doing?", Lindsay asks from her corner of the room.

"He's just watching us alongside that other guy and talking to him", Romeo answers.

"Then why don't we go get them? We're just waiting here like sitting ducks", Lindsay complains.

"Foolish girl, you can't just go running into a fight like an idiot?", Carla points out from her bed causing Lindsay to throw a heated glare at her.

"What was that fur-ball?", as a magic circle appeared in around the girl's hand.

"Calm down, you two", Katja barks from her spot by the second window in the room where she was watching Yudiea and Zero.

To Romeo's surprise, neither Lindsay or Carla continue their argument after that. He ponders on it for a moment before turning his attention to Katja.

"Everything okay with you?"

"They're waiting for something", was her reply.

"What?"

"I just feel like they're waiting for something", Katja repeats as she looks down the road at the City Guardsmen, "Maybe they're waiting for the guards to leave?"

"Possibly, but it seems like their assign to this block so I doubt they're leaving anytime soon", Romeo answers.

"I doubt they're waiting on that", Lindsay says as she walks up to the window, "The only people here in the inn beside us, Porlyusica and that Madam Ekate lady, is the innkeeper."

"Going by how they were going to kill Wendy before we arrived last night, they may be here to finish the job", Katja whispers to Romeo "Though I don't see the creature that was with them last night anywhere."

"_Something feels off", _Romeo tells himself before seeing Zero pull something from out of his cloak, "Is that a lacrima sphere?"

"What's that?", Yudiea asks as he stares at the object in Zero's hand.

"It's a mini-lacrima vision. They're getting to one of my favorite parts of the games", he answers as he unveils an even smaller object from his other hand.

**Checking back with Jellal and them**

Foreign.

That was the word that came to Jellal's mind as he was being held the neck two feet off the ground, struggling for air. The feeling of complete helplessness was foreign to him. Back when he was on the losing end of his fight with Natsu at the Tower of Heaven, back when he was held prisoner by Oracion Seis, and back when he was imprisoned by the Magic Council, he always felt that he had some measure of control if only a little.

But this...this was different as he stared into the eyes of the man who was simply laughing at his struggles. The man was utterly dominating him and the others and he saw no small glimmer of hope in this struggle. The man's attention turns toward Ultear and Meredy who too were being held up off the ground by their necks, only the man was merely using his arm to press them upward against the brick wall and Jellal could see their faces start to turn purple and blue.

"**Such lovely beauties you walk around with, such a shame you brought them along with you today", **he smiled as Jellal's eyes widen and he began to unleash a barrage of punches and kicks at the man's face, only for him to laugh at his effort.

"**Oh please, keep doing what you're doing! I always find amusement in the desperate efforts of humanity!", **the man laughs as Jellal then decides to change tactics and tries to focus magic into his left hand. Using what little remain of his decreasing oxygen he casts the spell…

"_**Abyss Break!"**_

"**Yeah no, I don't think so", **the man scuffs before Jellal felt a painful surge of magic rush through him, it originates from his neck. He then felt his own magic began to fade until it was gone.

"**What you and your friends are feeling right now is my own magic coursing through your bodies and cutting you off from your magic. It's an ancient technique that was around long before the dawn of men and one that I feel is beyond any human mages today. It could be considered on par with your anti-magic spells, but those merely suppress their target's magic, at best. This technique, if used to its fullest, will cut one completely off from their magic for the rest of their lives", **the man began to explain as his smile grew larger, **"But worry not, for you won't live long enough to experience that vermin."**

**Outside in the Arena in the Announcer Booth**

**"**WELCOME EVERYONE TO THE X791 GRAND MAGIC GAMES! I'M YOUR ANNOUNCER, CHAPATI ROLA AND ASSISTING ME IS FORMER COUNCIL MEMBER, YAJIMA-SAN!"

"Let us hope for a clean and fair competition", Yajima-san said with a smile.

"AND OUR GUEST SPEAKER FOR DAY ONE IS NONE OTHER THAN THIS YEAR MISS FIORE, BLUE PEGSASUS'S JENNY REARLIGHT!"

"We are going to win this year!"

AND NOW EVERYONE, IT'S NOW MY HONOR TO OFFICIALLY OPEN THE GAMES!", Chapati screams as on cue a thunderous roar of fireworks began to go off all around the arena and creating a spectacular show in the skies above. Combine with the deafening roar of the crowd, the sheer magnitude of the noise could be heard for miles around.

**Alleyway**

"I do adore working at large events", Zero laughed as he held up his other hand and Yudiea noticed that it had a red button on the end of it, "They always make my job easier."

"What is that in his hand?", Lindsay asks as Romeo uses his superior sight to get a better look.

"It looks like a detonator of some sorts", Romeo answers and his eyes widen in shock, "Aw, crap!"

"And...here...we...go", Zero sings as he presses the button.

Seven blocks away in the Western Marketplace of Crocus, the grounds were empty as a majority of the stands had made their way up to the Domus Flau to sell their wares leaving only the largest stalls that were too big to move there. Since everything of value was already taken with the vendors when they left and the local pickpocketers had no reason to be there, not a single guard was on patrol there as the main focus was around the arena, along with small pockets of patrols here and there throughout the rest of the city.

That would all soon change as a series of powerful explosions torn the market grounds apart at the seams and send fragments of rock, woods, and other materials flying through the air, shattering the windows of the nearby buildings. These explosives couldn't be heard in the area around the Domus Flau as the roars of the crowd and the fireworks conceal them. But they could be heard from the area around the inn Fairy Tail was currently standing at as Romeo and the others watch the windows rattle violently under the force of the shockwaves. Out of the corner of Katja's eyes, she noticed the City Guardsmen at the end of the block point toward the direction the explosions came from and watch as every one of them took off that way, leaving the streets completely empty except for the two men across the way.

"Oh no."

She then watches as the grey cloak man steps out of the alleyway and brings his hands together in a triangle formation and three large magic circles appear in front of him on the ground, each of them had a series of different symbols around them.

Lindsay was the first person in the room to speak, "W-What the hell is he doing?"

"I believe those are summoning circles", Madam Ekate answers as she enters the room alongside Porlyusica, "And going off the hieroglyphics on them, I believe he is calling forth a Charda, Cuestodaemon, and, oh you're going to love this, a Frost Drake it seems."

Romeo eyes the man as he walks in front of the circles, slowly clapping his hands before raising them to the heavens.

"Here comes my other favorite part", Romeo hears him say.

Over the loudspeakers that were spread throughout the city, he picks up on Chapati's announcement from the Domus Flau...

"AND NOW, LET THE GAMES BEGINS!"

**A/N: There's more to come so more may be added later on. ****If you have the chance, check out my other stories, _Fiery Hurricane of Love_ and _The Wild Master._ I could use some feedback on them**

**Addressing an issue:**

**A number of people have PM me about what I thought about the ending of Fairy Tail. Me personally, I thought how they defeated Acnologia was pretty half-ass. To me, Acnologia was a goal that Natsu and the others weren't ready to defeat yet, especially right then and there. It should have been that after everything was said and done with Zeref and the Alvarez empire, Acnologia should have said something along the lines that he was bored now and how he was leaving. Right before he left, he could have told Natsu and the other dragon-slayers to come find him on Mt. Zonia after they become stronger. That could be the goal that Natsu is working toward now, through years of training, defeating other evil guys and such, he eventually makes his way up to Mt. Zonia where Acnologia is waiting for him. **

**Like Zoro and Mihawk kind of deal from One Piece.**

**In short, I believe Acnologia was nerfed for the final battle. And that is why he is easily owning Jellal and the others despite being at one percent of his power. He got the drop on them and quite frankly, they weren't expecting him and before you cry that Ultear has Time magic, it's pretty hard to focus when someone chocking the life out of you.**

**Cuestodaemon is found on pg 65 of_ Bestiary 2 of Pathfinder_. Charda is found on Pg 55 of the same book and finally, Frost Drake is found on Pg 108.**


	3. Technical Difficulties

**Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail, Golden Sun, or Final Fantasy.**

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this**

**_Chapter 2_**

**Technical Difficulties **

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is truly awkward, especially seeing how I just declare the beginnings of the games", Chapati Lola announce over the system, "But we are currently experiencing "technical difficulties" right now and please ask for your patience as we correct them."

That is what he told the crowd through the script he was given, but in the back of his mind though…

"_Why the hell did Princess Hisui suddenly close all the entrances to the arena floor but one and force all of the teams to go through that one?! Doesn't she know some of those teams are just a heartbeat away from pouncing on one another?!"_

"What a rip-off!"

"I took time off work to come to see the games!"

"I paid good money for these tickets!"

"I got the late shift tonight yet I stay up to see the guilds bash each other heads in!"

The rage and dissatisfaction of the delay could be heard all over the Coliseum. Everyone from the lowest of scum to the high nobility was letting their feelings be known of the matter, showing their complete lack of patience.

Everyone except for a lone ninja mage who was currently leaning on the inside wall of one of the tunnels that led out into the highest level of the stands.

Dobengal considered himself to be a patience man as he stood there tossing an apple up and down Patience was a virtue and a reliable quality to have in his occupation and it was drill into him upon his first days of training. From dealing with his guild master, the brutish Jiemma, to the antics of his fellow Sabertooth mages, Dobengal always kept a calm mind and body even in the worse of times.

But lately, he has been feeling his nerves and patience slipping away. It's faint, small, and almost non-existence, but he feels it. He knows that sooner or later he's going to snap….

And the person who was causing all of this just so happen to be directly across the hall in front of him.

"Why are you here?", Dobengal hisses, causing Minerva to smile which made his blood boil

"Why, I'm here to keep you company so you don't feel left out on our guild glorious road to victory!", Minerva replies.

"Don't play games with me, woman. Why are you over here with me when I clearly made an effort to be as far away from the rest of the guild as possible?", Dobengal seethes, which faze Minerva in no way whatsoever, as she kept her smile on.

"What? You honestly thought you were the only one who didn't want to sit with a bunch of idiots?", Minerva asks as she wags her finger, "Come on, Dobe, grow up."

Dobengal just stood there, blinking ever so often as the hum of the crowd wash over him. In all his time at Sabertooth, he could count on one hand all the times he was left speechless and this was one of those times.

"What…", he seethes, "did you call me?"

"Hmm? Oh, Dobe. It's my new nickname for you. I came up with it last night after our little talk", Minerva answers.

"If you value your life you will never call me that again, got it?", Dobengal warns.

"Why not? Compare to everyone else's nickname, it's actually quite nice. You should consider it a compliment!", Minvera smirk.

"I will end you, woman.", Dobengal threatens, "A ninja's name is important to them. Everybody's name in the village has a special meaning and is spoken with respect."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic,", Minerva tells him as a sinister smirk form, "Plus, despite all of your training, you still couldn't defeat me in a fight."

"Is that a challenge?", Dobengal questioned as he reaches for a kunai with his free hand.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. There's a reason why you're **one** of the strongest mages at the guild and I'm the **strongest** mage at the guild", Minerva reminds him, "Or do you need a demonstration?"

Quicker than the average human eye could follow, Dobengal tosses his apple straight up into the air and throw his kunai directly at Minerva's neck. Minerva reacts appropriately and casts a sphere of her **_Territory Magic _**around her hand and watches with a grin as the kunai disappears within it and comes shooting back out at Dobengal a moment later. The ninja dodges to the right and lets the blade strike the wall behind him. It bounces off and with cat-like reflexes, Dobengal grabs it while it was in mid-air with the blade pointing down and lunges at Minerva. The girl quickly dispels her magic and catches Dobengal by the wrist with her right hand and twists the kunai out of his hand. Next, while showing a surprising amount of upper body strength she spins and flips him over her shoulder and onto the ground. But Dobengal lands in the ways he was taught since childhood with his upper body slightly raise up and through mental training, stomach the pain. After the impact, He brings both legs up to collide with the top of Minerva's skull, striking head-on and forcing her to let go of his arm. Using his now free arm, he reaches out from the falling apple and caught it before it hit the ground. He then slams it hard into the side of Minerva's skull, the fruit busting into pieces upon impact as it hurls the Ace of Sabertooth's head into the brick wall of the hallway.

Kickflipping up, Dobengal spins low to the ground and sweeps out Minerva's legs causing her to fall flat on her back onto the stone floor. Taking the initiative, Dobengal scoops up his kunai and once more jumps at Minerva who rolls out of the way just as the kunai strikes the ground where she was previously laying, producing sparks in the process.

Now both mages were back on their feet, facing one another. Dobengal puts away his kunai and focuses his magic and within moments his right arm was emitting a **_Rainbow Beam _**blade from the top of his wrist.

In response, Minerva now cast **_Territory _**on both of her hands and held down up at her shoulders.

Silence pass in the hallway and the two of them tune out the roar of the crowd.

Then Dobengal struck.

Leaping forward, he used every ounce of speed he could produce in such a cramp area to thrust his blade into Minerva's unguarded gut. Minvera tries to react in time to defend herself but Dobengal's speed was too much for her….

Or so he thought as she vanishes from sight and appears a few feet back away from the ninja, his **_Rainbow Beam _**blade still lunging forward….

Straight into one of her **_Territory _**encase hands….

While the other one was level with his head a little way in front of him.

The last image he saw was his blade going into one **_Territory _**and out the other straight at him, directly into his forehead.

Dobengal's eyes snap open and he found himself once again leaning on the walls within the Coliseum's tunnels, with an apple in one hand, a kunai in the other, and Minerva still leaning on the wall across from him with that same smirk on her lips.

Mumbling a curse, he sheathes his kunai and lets out a frustrating groan.

"_Strongest mage at Sabertooth indeed", _he tells himself.

"It went that bad for you, did it?", Minerva asks, "The fight between you and me that you just ran in your head?"

"What are you talking about?", Dobengal said, feigning ignorance.

"You do that a lot. You think about the possible ways a fight will play out in your mind if you have the time", Minerva tells him while looking out to the arena, "Afterwards, that is when you'll make up your mind whether or not if the fight is worth going through with."

"And how exactly do you know all this?", Dobengal asks though deep down he was actually impressed that she figure this out.

"That time at the guild when you were training with the magic beam robots wasn't the first time I watch you", Minerva admitted, "Plus I may have had a conversation or two with your father whenever he was at the guild."

_"Need to have a talk with my dear old dad here soon",_ Dobengal thinks before scoffing as he too turns his head to stare out at the Coliseum, " Hmmph, make sense I suppose, in order to keep your position as our strongest mage you have to keep an eye on a possible competition."

A look of hurt flashes across Minerva for a moment but since neither mages was watching the other, Dobengal didn't notice it.

"It was my **_Territory _**magic along with the cramped area of the hallways that cause you to lose, wasn't it?", Minerva said, "While you're no slouch in close-quarters you need room to build up your speed to maximum effect."

Dobengal merely grunted in response.

"Did you use the sword?", Minerva questions as she points at said weapon that was currently strapped to his back and gets a slight shake of the head in response, "Why not?"

"I saving it for when it's needed", was Dobengal's reply, "Besides, like you said it would do me no good in such a cramp environment."

The jeers of the crowd were the only noise that could be heard between the two powerful mages for a couple of minutes while they were each lost in their own thoughts.

"Hey, seeing how I won our little "bout", how about we go out to the festival again tonight after the games?", Minerva asks.

"Hmmph", softly escapes Dobengal's lips through his mask and a faint smile appears on Minvera's.

"See you at sunset in the hotel's lounge", she states as the two of them continue looking outwards at the crowd, "Dobe."

**_At the Royal Stands_**

"Princess Hisui", Sergeant Roger saluted as he hands over a large stack of paper to her, "Here are the profile sheets of Fairy Tail."

"Thank you, Sergeant. That will be all for now", Hisui says as she takes the paper and sets them down on the table in front of her. She began sifting through them when she notices that the Sergeant was still standing there.

"Is there something you wish to say, Sergeant?", she asks after a brief moment.

"Yes, your majesty", he replies, "Do you think it was truly necessary to block off as much of the Coliseum as you already have? To have all the teams in one area all at the same time?"

"What is your concern, Sergeant Roger?"

"It's that some of these guilds basically have blood feuds against one another and we're risking a fight breaking out amongst them all because of one man", the sergeant states.

"It's not just one man, it's one potentially dangerous man", Hisui says, "That man had a certain air about him. Something that I can't quite put my finger on but until I find out what his intentions are I want to control his movements."

"But, is keeping him confide to such a crowded place really a good idea?", the Sergeant asks, "What if he does decide to take action to escape?"

Princess Hisui puts down the current profile sheet she was looking over and stares out at the Coliseum, taking in the thousands upon thousands of spectators that fill its seats, "Let us pray to the gods that it does not come to that then."

It was at that moment she found what she was looking for, "Ah-ha! Romeo Conbolt!", as she held up his profile sheet.

But her joy only lasted for a moment before she curses out loud, "Dammit, he's wearing a different color scarf! It's orange instead of white!"

Sergeant Rogers was peeking over her shoulder at the profile sheet she was holding and notice something.

"Your Majesty, that's the mage you want to know about, correct?", he asks.

"Yes, sergeant. Do you happen to know something about him?", she asks as she slouches in her chair.

"Well, Princess Hisui, according to the local newspaper he had a run-in with Captain Lahar and Captain Mest last night", the Sergeant said as he walks over to retrieve the daily newspaper that was delivered to the Princess Hisui every morning. Because of the mayhem that had been going on recently, she had been unable to read it like she usually does.

The Sergeant handed her the newspaper and she flips through a couple of pages knowing full well that the first page was going to be more about the mountain getting destroy than anything. Sure enough, a couple of pages in she read the title of the article:

**"_Fairy Killer has a run-in with the Rune Knights!" _**

Standing there glaring dangerously at two Rune Knights captains was none other than Romeo Conbolt of Fairy Tail, wearing a white scarf that matches the distinct patterns of the one that was laying next to Princess Hisui.

"It seems there is a lot more going on at Fairy Tail than what people see", Princess Hisui says aloud as she turns to the Sergeant, "I want an eye kept on Fairy Tail, especially Romeo Conbolt. Report everything to me."

"Yes, your majesty!", Sergeant Roger salutes.

**_In the Empty Hallways of the Domu Flau_**

He gulps down deep breaths of air as he wraps his hands around his neck as soon as his feet hit the ground. They buckle instantly and he is on his knees wondering to himself if the air had always tasted so sweet or was it just the fact that he narrowly avoided having his throat cave in. As he looked over toward Meredy and Ultear he notices that as they two were gasping for air, the tone of their skin starting to return back to its normal shade.

"**Pathetic**", a voice from above him spats and Jellal painfully turns his neck upward toward the source of it, "**Truly pathetic**."

Jellal could only endure the insult as the sheer pain in his throat prevented him from doing nothing, including talking back.

The man spoke as he began to circle Jellal, like a predator circle his prey, "**To think that you were the man behind the Tower of Heaven clusterfuck all those years ago and now here you are, before me on your knees".**

Jellal's eyes widen in surprise upon the mentioning of the incident, something that did not escape his attacker's attention.

"**Surprise, are you**?", as the man once more ended up in front of Jellal, "**Don't see why, for even without my contacts within the Magic Council organization, I still would have heard about the rouge Wizard Saint who tried to revive Zeref. Trust me when I say that even if Zeref was actually dead at the time you would have been killed the moment he laid eyes on you."**

Jellal continues to remain silent as the man spoke on…

**"It truly is a joke; the title of "Wizard Saint", for that is all it is, a title. To have it is meaningless to someone like me. But seeing how you** **manage to trick the entire Ishgar Magic Council, impressive for a human, I will give you a word of advice. Always assume your opponent is one step ahead of you, that way you'll never be caught off-guard." **

The man stands up and looks straight ahead, ignoring Jellal, Meredy, and Ultear, **"I have done what you've asked****, I am now leaving to watch these ridiculous games of yours."**

He then glances over his shoulder where a furious looking Makarov and Gildarts were standing behind him, "**Unless you're going to stop me**."

The two men only stood there for a moment, their magic wavering between calm and exploding until finally…

"Gildarts, please see Onca to the stands", Makarov ordered.

"**Hmmph**", was Acnologia responds as he turns around and walks toward the duo, the two powerful mages making way for him to pass through. It was when Acnologia got to the corner of the hallway that he stop.

"**One question, Crash vermin**", he began without turning around, "**How did you know where to find me**?"

Gildarts simply glares at Acnologia for a second before answering, "We were looking for Jellal for he is on the second Fairy Tail team and had yet to show up when we felt a brief magic spike happen nearby."

This causes Acnologia to arch an eyebrow before letting off a chuckle, "**It would seem that I need to restrain myself more lest I attract the wrong attention**."

"We'll discuss that later, but for now let's head to the stands", Gildarts says, "If I have to babysit you, I want to be entertained while doing so."

"**Ah yes, let's go watch the shameful display your country puts on with their most powerful mages when they could be using them for more productive means such as conquering half the continent; it has been a while since you vermin have had a good war**", Acnologia laughs.

"Did you enjoy dominating those weaker than you?", Gildarts couldn't help but asks.

Acnoloiga thought over his answer in his head for a moment before speaking, "**It does put a smile on my face**", he says as he saunters away, Gildarts in tow.

This left Makarov with a still recovering Jellal and his companions who the guild master gave a moment to let them catch their breath before speaking.

"Now we don't have much time, Jellal", he states as he puts a hand on his shoulder, "I'll explain everything along the way."

**_The Main Hallway of the Domu_** **_Flau_**

"Sergeant!", Captain Maroko of the Fifth Containment Unit shouted, "Why do I only count seven distinct teams for the games in this hallway when eight are in the finals?!"

"Sir, one of the teams, I believe one of the teams, Raven Tail I believe is their name, is currently at the very end of the hallway in an attempt not to be caught up in the madness! They are currently being watched by Corporal Fraind and his squad, Sir!" Sergeant Mako answers.

Captain Maroko merely nods, "At least there's one guild that doesn't want to cause trouble, the rest of these guilds could learn from them. He then notices one of his newest members running up to him, "State your business, Private!"

"Sir, with all due respect, this is getting out of hand!", the private fuss to his superior as he pops a salute, "We have already had at least two guys pass out from the overbearing magic presence that the guilds are emitting!"

"Return to your post, Private! We will keep the peace as the Princess ordered!", the guard captain replies though he too was starting to sweat a little at the situation his unit had been put in.

"But if we could at least get the Guild Masters down here to maintain order!", the private suggested.

"Hah! They're just as likely to start a fight as the mages they are in charge of!", the captain laughs, "Now back into ranks!"

The private wanted to argue more but upon seeing the glare his captain was throwing at him, he decided to keep his mouth shut and return to his position near the entrance.

In front of him were over thirty of the most powerful mages in Fiore if not all of Ishgar all cramp together in one average size hallway.

And half of them were borderline unstable psychopaths.

"What the hell are you doing here?!", Natsu shouts at Gajeel who stood there with a grin on his face in front of Juvia, Mira, and Laxus.

"Gihihihi!", Gajeel laughs, "Well if the old man held you in such high esteem as he did me then you would have known that he was going to create a second team for Fairy Tail!"

A question mark appears above Natsu, "Isn't that cheating, though?"

"Am I going to have to explain this to him?", Gajtellstell himself as turns his head back toward his teammates. Mira chatting it up with Elfman, Laxus was busy having a glare-off with the hulking shirtless man from Sabertooth, and Juvia was currently on the ground wrestling with Gray while proclaiming her eternal love for him and Jellal was still nowhere to be seen.

"_Guy needs to hurry up and get here", _Gajeel thought as he turns back to Natsu, "Here's how the rules for the games work, Salamander."

Meanwhile, while the Fairy Tail teams converse, the rest of the guilds that may it to the finals of the GMG were for the most part either minding their own busy or in the case of Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel….

"Sure is getting crowded in this hallway", Chelia told herself as she subconsciously took a step backward in order to get away from the stare off between her fellow god-slayer and the Lightning Dragon Slayer.

"More cramp than a flock of chickens in the henhouse", Beth said to no one in particular as she tries to put some space between her and Kagura who was still upset over the farm girl earlier "antics".

And with that, the two girls bump into one another

"Sorry about that/Pardon me", was said at the same time as both girls turn to face one another.

A brief period of silence passes between the two girls as they point their fingers at one another and open and close their mouth multiple times before speaking

"Beth, was it?", Chelia says first.

"Yeah, and you're Chelia, right", Beth counters to which Chelia nods.

"You're the girl I met on the job to investigate those noises...", Chelia began.

"And we got ambush and taken captive by those cultists", Beth finish.

The two teenage girls let out nervous laughs, each one trying not to think too hard on the events that surrounded their fateful meeting.

Silence passes between the two girls once more before the Vegetable Mage spoke.

"So….what made you decide to take that job?", Beth asks, trying to start a conversation, "I remember asking you this before but we were captured before I could get an answer from you."

Chelia lets out a breath in frustration, not aim at Beth but more aim at herself, "I...I wanted the guild to take me more seriously."

"Really?!", Beth scream causing Chelia to flinch back in surprise, "That's why I did it too!"

"For real? Your guild was treating you like a little kid too?", Chelia question.

"Yep, ever since Romeo took down too high profile dark mages by himself!", Beth explained, "It was all Beth you should be better this and Beth you can do better that!"

"And they constantly point out how Romeo was younger than you yet he was still doing big things?", Chelia added in getting caught up in the direction the conversation was going."

"Exactly! First of all, it's not like I'm exactly lagging behind on jobs or anything! I was chosen to be on the guild Grand Magic Games team for gods' sakes! That should at least mean something!", Beth replies as she waves her arms around.

"Yeah, I got picked over at least two hundred other mages to be on the GMG team, including my cousin! You think they be a little more, I don't know, amazed by what someone my age has accomplished! I use extremely rare magic for gods' sakes!", Chelia complains as she crosses her arms in a huff.

"We all can't go around beating up powerful dark mages! It's not like they're just lying around waiting for us to come find them!", Beth groans as she copies the god-slayer arm placement.

The duo stays there for a moment, taking in the awkwardness of their rants as a thought began to settle upon them.

"You know...", Chelia started as she started to pull on one of her pigtails, "It's not exactly like it's Romeo's fault things ended up the way they did."

"I reckon that's true", Beth agrees as she uses her left foot to rub her right leg, "It's not like the job request said anything about running into a former Wizard Saint and two of his former aces from his old guild."

Chelia lets out a giggle, "Would have been nice if it did."

Beth lets out a snort as well before a thought suddenly occurred to her and seeing how they weren't going anywhere anytime soon she decided to go forward with it.

"Say, you seem to know Romeo pretty well, right?", Beth inquires.

"I guess you could say that", Chelia replies as she notices one of her ribbons on her hair was loose and thus began to fix it, "Our guilds are technically in an alliance of a sort."

"You wouldn't happen to know what type of food he likes, would you?", Beth asks in a soft voice, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks while doing so.

Chelia's body froze in place, her fingers which were in the middle of tying her ribbon as still as a statue. Slowly she brought them back down to her sides before turning her blue colored eyes to Beth same colored eyes.

"I'm sorry, could you said that again?", Chelia now asks and Beth could now feel her cheeks heating up even more.

"I….was wondering if you knew what type of food Romeo likes. I would like to cook him something as a thank you for inadvertently saving my life from the cultists and for helping me last night", Beth told Chelia all the while rocking back and forth on her heels while her hands were behind her back.

"What did he do last night?", the god-slayer asks, curiosity getting the better of her mostly because Romeo didn't mention anything to her this morning.

At that moment, Beth realizes that it would probably be for the best that she didn't mention the fact that Romeo had to tangle with a dangerous serial killer to save her and that the only reason that happened was that she got lost.

"Oh, he….help me find my way to my guild hotel right before the preliminary begun", which technically wasn't a lie.

"Oh", Chelia says before shaking her head, "Well then, sorry to disappoint you but I don't know what type of food Romeo loves to eat."

Beth frowns at this bit of news, "Oh, okay. Thanks anyway. I would have asked his guild but….", as she turns her head to the back of the hallway and Chelia does the same. They watch in mild surprise as the guards were struggling to defuse a possible brawl between Natsu and Gajeel, while their respective teammates were too busy doing their own thing which included:

**_Ezra enjoying some cakes from the concession stands._**

**_Gray still trying to pry Juvia off of him._**

**_A Mira smiling giving off a demonic aura while standing over a curl-up, trembling, clearly frighten Elfman who was muttering something about Evergreen. _**

**_Laxus still glaring at Orga though it seems that Jura had gotten involved as well and now they were having a __three-way__….stare-off._**

**_Lucy calling both Natsu and Gajeel idiots for trying to start a fight in such a cramped area._**

**_And finally, Jellal was walking up to all the commotion while rubbing his neck and donning a grave expression._**

"They all seem to be pretty busy at the moment", Beth finish as she and Chelia both let out a series of giggles and snorts.

"Yeah, seem to be a norm for Fairy Tail", Chelia giggles as she turns back to Beth, "Though I'm not all that surprised by Romeo helping you."

Beth tilts her head, "Really?"

"Romeo always seems to want to lend a hand to people in need even at his own expense", Chelia says as her mind became to wander back to days gone by, "A lot of times with that same goofy smile on his face."

"And his strong, warm, hands", Beth gush, closing her eyes and remembering how Romeo grabs her to get her to safety.

"And those dark as the night eyes", Chelia follow up, remembering the way the boy looked at her when he told her that she wasn't ugly, but in fact very pretty.

"And that spiky purple hair that you can spot in a crowd and want to run your hands through again and again", Beth adds, remembering how she watched him for the longest time from the front door of the hotel until he turns a corner, his oddly color hair standing out amongst the crowd.

"And his abs!", Chelia blurt out unintentionally.

"His rock hard abs!", Beth finish, "_Gods, when he tries to shield me from Mack's attack, that was the first thing I felt!"_

It was at that moment that the girls realize that drool was starting to leak out of the corners of their mouths. They quickly fix themselves and made an effort to change the subject before they became too hot and bother. It was only by the grace of the gods that neither one was really pretty attention to what the other one was saying and instead too caught up in their own fantasy.

"Ahem", Beth coughs, "You know it's funny, the same boy who kind of the reason behind us going on the job in the first place is also the same reason we're even standing here right now talking. He chose the mission himself, remember?"

"You're right about that but I already thank him for that at my cousin's suggestion", the god-slayer admitted.

"Really?", Beth wondered, "Did you get him a gift last night or something?"

Chelia's cheeks were now full-blown glowing as the memories from this morning that she had been trying to suppress came flooding back, "S-S-Something l-like that!", she stammers out as she subconsciously grabs both of her pigtails now in a vain effort to cover her face.

"You okay there? Hope you don't didn't catch a fever because you're redder than my mom tomato patches back on the farm", Beth says.

"I-I may have given Romeo a k-k-kiss on the cheek as a thank you", Chelia confess not noticing that a certain Wind Mage of Blue Pegasus was listening nearby. A slight grin appears on his face for he knows that a certain fiancee of his would-be overjoyed to hear about this bit of news.

But as for Beth she too was now as red as a tomato patch. Chelia's startling confession now had the girl remembering in detail the events that led up to the kiss she planted on Romeo's cheek after he got her out of danger.

"Oh...g-g-guess we're two peas in a pod, we are", she stutters out, "Seems like Romeo got a double dose of cheek kissing."

Ren covers his mouth in shock for he caught the meaning of the girl's word right away. Careful not to draw attention to himself or else reveal the fact that he was listening in on the two mages conversation he takes out his cell-lacrima and quietly makes a call.

"_This Romeo would have made a __fine __addition to the guild. __A shame I never notice it whenever I was at Fairy Tail", _he tells himself as the person on the other end picks up.

Chelia, on the other hand, is confused for a moment by the words Beth just said but slowly yet surely their meaning starts to dawn on her.

"Wait, you mean you?", she points at Beth to which the girl slowly nods.

"I never really got to properly thank him after he rescues us so I figure when he got me to the hotel now was as good as time as any!", Beth blurted out, "Don't judge me!"

Both girls look away from each other, their faces lighting of the hallway with their glow.

But Chelia was now starting to recall everything that happened on the train. From seeing those two girls fighting over him to seeing him laid comfortably one of their laps. It was on the train that a foreign feeling erupting inside of Chelia's chest, a feeling unlike anything she had ever felt before and now she knew what that feeling was….

Jealousy.

Now she knew how Sherry felt whenever Ren was acting like a playboy and flirting with other girls.

"_Playboy?", _she suddenly realizes, "_Is Romeo a playboy? Does he just string girls along until he get__s__ what he wants?" _

Chelia's brain went into overtime. For as long as she had known Romeo he has never once tried to "put the moves on her". In fact, there were times when Chelia got the feeling that the boy didn't want her around.

"_Did he simply not like me? Am I not pretty enough for him? __I mean, he told me I was pretty, was he really just saying that?" _her mind rage, "_No! P__ull__ yourself to together, __Chelia! You love Lyon! Lyon! You have no feelings for Romeo except friendship! __Very deep, respectable, friendship!_she told herself despite the feeling in her gut.

"_I need to have a chat with lover boy __soon__. Have to make sure he's not stringing those other girls along. Yeah, that's it. I'm only doing this so he doesn't break those other girls' hearts. "_

Now Beth on the other hand….

"_What did mom call them types of city-folks? Ladies man? Womanizer? Skirt-chaser? Horndog?" _the farm girl rants inside her head, "_Is Romeo one of those guys? I __recall__ him having those two girls fight over him on the train but he looked more uncomfortable than anyone. But he was laying across that one girl's lap without argument. Am I just another check in a box on a long list?!"_

But then she remembers what happened last night, "_Would a guy like that risk life and limb for just any old girl? I hardly doubt he would."_

Within seconds, Beth decides to take the same course of action as Chelia.

"_Maybe if I actually sat down and had a talk with him I could find out the truth", _before looking over her shoulder and Kagura who still giving off such a menacing aura that even the Sabertooth team gave her some room, "_Alone and without the rest of the team knowing if possible."_

And thus both girls develop an unbreakable resolve within themselves to speak with the boy before the day was done.

**_Romeo, oh Romeo, how fuck are thou, Romeo?_**

**To Romeo and the others**

Bile as dark as night spew forth out of the magic circle to the right as Romeo and the others witness a reptilian hand with three large razor-sharp claws appear out of the circle, followed by another

Then another…

And another until finally four black scale-armor paws were latching onto the ground and were now heaving up that Romeo could only describe as a more primal version lizardman he and Katja fought a while ago with its light green glowing eyes and flickering tongue. The same bile that first came forth from the summoning circle was now drooling from its mouth as it surveys the area around it before finally laying eyes on the man who summons it.

From the magic circle to the left rose a mangle of horns that were attached to large ape whose hulking body was covered in brown, shaggy-fur. Its bugling arms were as wide as Romeo's whole body and it took upon horse-like hooves. From its rows of sharp teeth to its menacing yellow eyes this was surely a creature you would not like to meet in a dark alley alone at night. It lets out a growl of defiance as it too turns its attention to its summoner.

Finally, coming forth from the center came a billow of ice and mist, chilling the very air around it and causing the hazy mist to settle in the immediate area, completely covering the ground and preventing anyone from seeing the road. Bursting out of the circle like a bat out of hell came a towering two-legged dragon who was covered from the tip of it long, trashing, tail to the end of a sinister-looking jaw with dull blue scales covered in shining blue ice. It landed on the ground with a thundering thud and spread its wings out to their full size, clearing away the mist around it. But from its mouth full fill to the brim with fangs that resemble daggers more of the hallowing mist rolled out. Unlike the others, the frost drake first turns its attention toward the Ceustodaemon on its right and the creatures instantly back away, but not before giving a low shrill. Then the drake turns to the Charda and while the monster showed more defiance and even rear itself up as a show of force, it too eventually put a little distance between it and the drake.

Zero then walks straight up to the aggressive drake, reaching a handout and leaving it hovering in the air above his head. To Romeo and the others and especially Yudiea surprise, the drake lowers its stout into Zero's hand and nuzzles it.

"Aw, drakes. As vain and prideful as their larger cousins yet can easily be cowl when faced against a superior creature", Zero explains as he points his finger right at Romeo. Everyone in the room watches in horror as the drake, the Charda, and the Ceustodaemon all turn their eyes their way and let out a series of snarls and growls.

"Bring me the long, blue-haired, girl. Do whatever you want with the rest but make it quick. I have zero patience for delays", Zero orders and that is when Romeo truly knew that this was going to be a long day as he watches the Charda hurl itself off the ground, across the street, and onto the roof of the landing with a resounding crash that crack the timbers. Romeo and the others could hear the creature move around above as if it was trying to find the perfect spot to enter through.

Romeo began to focus his magic into his hands and both them upward, "I got this."

"Now wait a minute there, kid", Madam Ekate try to warn the boy but it was too late…

"_**Doomsday Cannon!**"_

Now of all the people currently in the room at the time Romeo cast his spell, Katja and Deez were the only ones to actually ever witness Romeo use his Apocalypse Dragon Magic in action **_(recall back to the lizardman fight_**), therefore they were the only ones who knew what to expect.

What they were expecting was Romeo to produce a DSE beam so much wider and more powerful than the last one she saw him use that it sends him crashing through the through the floor, through the main floor was the tavern was locate and straight down into the basement of the inn leaving all the women in the room, except Madam Ekate, with their jaws drop to the floor. Madam Ekate looks down the hole in the floor at Romeo who was currently laying in a crater caused by his impact, looking skyward with an expression of shock, surprise, and pain all mix into one.

"Ooooowwwww", he groans out as he struggles to move.

"Romeo! Are you okay?!", Wendy shouts as she tries to move over the hole but Porlyusica restrains her with little effort.

"Sit down", she orders.

"But-", the girl argues but the Potion Mage was having none of that.

"I said sit down. I'm sure the boy's fine, he has been trained by the Dragon King for gods' sakes!", Porlyusica snaps remembering the conversation she had last night with Makarov. Surprisingly, she wasn't even that mad about Makarov this a secret from the guild, she was more angry at the fact that she now had to deal with Madam Ekate after trying to avoid her for decades.

Katja and Lindsay make a dash for the hole and scream down it.

"Oi, Romeo, you okay?", Lindsay shouts and only received a weak thumbs-up in response, "He's good", and both Katja and Wendy let out a breath of relief.

Next came up Madam Ekate, "Yeah, kid. Old black and scaly magic may be sealed up nicely inside of you but that doesn't mean it can't escape if you provide it a means of a sort", she explains, "And guess what your spells do?"

But Romeo didn't have time to comment as he sees a claw appear over the hole he left in the roof. Standing to its full height with its eyes set on him was the Charda and it didn't look happy as it jumps through the hole straight down at him barely giving Romeo time to roll out the way before landing in the crater he created earlier and expanding it upon impact. As Romeo gets back on his feet he is instantly greeted by a sharpen talon aim directly at his face. He moves his head to the left only receiving a cut across his cheek while doing so as he rolls out of the way, putting a couple feet between him and the creature just as it brought all four of its claws down on the spot Romeo was previously occupying. The strength behind the attack shatters the stone floor, kicking bits and pieces of rock into the air which Romeo quickly takes advantage of by grabbing one of them out of the air and after swiftly dragon-scaling his entire arm, flings it directly at the beast eye with all of his strength. The blow struck the Charda squarely in its left green eyes causing to thrash about in pain as Romeo realizes that Madam Ekate words more than likely apply to his scales armor strength as well for while he was just trying to temporarily blind to beast to give him some breathing room he notices that the Charda entire eye was now gone and only a gaping hole oozing out green blood remain in its place.

But even with one eye Romeo could tell that the beast was livid as it dug it four claws into the ground in front of it and prepare to lunge.

The Ceustodaemon slams his fist into the concrete road and pounds his chance in rage. Then, following the path of the Charda, leaps across the road toward the window.

"Ah, crap", is all Lindsay has time to get out as she instinctively encases herself in an **_Ash Sphere _**just as the daemon came crashing through the window and straight into her, the momentum of the charge carrying both of them through the wall and out of the room. The two of end up in the first floor of the building across the way of the inn, a bakery shop which was currently closed due to the games as the baker and his staff were manning the food stands at the Coliseum. They land in the flour-room, instantly kicking up a cloud of white powder into the air and blanketing the entire area. Lindsay is the first to recover from the nausea induce ride and struggle to regain her balance while the monster that brought her here

was currently swinging his arms wildly in an effort to strike his target. It easily cast aside metal trays of dough, heavily dented the iron cad ovens with its fists and even lifted up entire baking tables with its feet.

Lindsay barely had time to duck as one of the said tables goes flying over her head and into the wall behind her, leaving a hole in the wall that allows her to see into the serving area.

"_Crap, this thing is strong", _she told herself as turn back to the beast as it lets out a roar in frustration as she witness it trying to stand up only for it to fall back down as it lose its balance, "_It can't stand up with on the flour on the floor."_

Lindsay not wanting to waste an opportunity such as this quickly pulls out a lighter from one of her pockets along with a matchstick that had a pink tip. Lighting the match she gives it a moment for it to start producing large amounts of pink smoke while still watching the daemon. Next, as she focuses her magic into it, a light green magic circle appears in front of it.

"Be way easier if my mom and dad just bought me some smokes but noooo, smoking is bad for you. Well, so is getting pummeled by a daemon from the infinite abyss, mom!", Lindsay murmured as she cast her spell, _**Smoke Crush**!"_

A billow of pink smoke erupts from the magic circle forming into individual streams as they rocket toward daemon as it finally started to regain it balance. It was at that moment that it was hit by a barrage of pink smoke impacting his body with enough force to lift it off its feet and into the ovens behind it.

Lindsay keeps up her assault for some time, watching her pink smoke pummel the beast deeper into the oven though slowly.

"_Hope I can keep this up long enough to dispel this creature. Don't know how much longer I have on this ma-", _just as she noticed the pink smoke evaporate into thin air. Lindsay snaps her neck down at the magical match and sure enough, the tip was black and used up. Frantically she fumbles with her hands as she tries to pull another match out of her pockets and in the process drops the box onto the floor. Before she could go down on her knees to pick one up, a bestial growl draws her attention. She slowly looks up to see the Ceustodaemon standing straight up and glaring pure death at the Ash/Smoke mage.

The Frost Drake let out a resounding shriek before taking off high into the sky.

"You might want to get going, little girl", Madam Ekate says as she turns her attention to Katja.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Do you see anyone left here that could possibly fight off a Frost Drake? The other little girl's magic is completely drained, Porly can't fight for shit, not even for the man she loves, and I'm forbidden from using offensive magic", Madam Ekate states, paying no attention to the heated glare that was being thrown at her from the Potion Mage, "So you best hop to it and summon something."

Katja stands down dumbfound trying to process what she was just told.

"Why-"

"And you might want to be quick about it", Madam Ekate interrupts as she looks up at the sky, "The drake is coming back and should be here soon."

Sure enough, as Katja and Deez turn their glance upward they see the Frost Drake barreling down toward them at neck-breaking speed, it wings folded in to further increase its velocity.

Katja spares Madam Ekate a glance, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Ha! Most fun I had in decades!", she replies as she then watches Katja recites her summoning spell, "_Grand Summoner Magic, huh? Been a while since I have seen it in person."_

The frost drake was continuing its dive-bomb into the hole in the inn's roof when a bright light came into its vision. Before it could comprehend what was causing it, red streak coming shooting of the inn straight for it. The drake spins out of the way in time to barely dodge the object but the sheer speed and force behind the unknown object was enough to make the drake lose control as it began to spin out. It was able to catch itself a few seconds and hundreds of feet later but the fact that something cause it to lose control irritates it to no end. As it turns in mid-air to take on this new challenge, it's greeted by the proud hovering form of Valefor who had the look of death in her eye. She bellows a screech in a challenge before diving down at her foe.

"Are sure it was okay for me not to get on Valefor's back, Deez? That's where I usually fight from", Katja asks the little fuzzball.

"Trust me, Katja. Valefor is a natural drake hunter and this battle could get vicious", Deez explains from atop of Katja's shoulder.

"Valefor hunts drakes?", Katja asks.

"Yes, her kind originally competes with different types of drakes for territory and food so thus they're natural enemies", Deez tells her before searching around the room, "Where did the second old lady go?"

**_Out on the Streets_**

"Disappointing", Zero remarks as he pulls a watch out from underneath his cloak and looks at it, "It has been nearly a minute and I still don't have the girl deliver to me."

"_How much stuff does he keep under his cloak?", _Yudiea wondered.

"Even worse, my summons has yet to kill a single one of the girl's companions. This is truly a disappointing day", Zero sighs before straighten up, "Guess I'll have to do it myself."

Yudiea watches as the estranged man slowly strolls toward the inn. He notices that his feet barely hover above the ground almost as if he was walking on air. He gets mid-way into the street before stopping abruptly.

And he just stood there…

Motionless…

Until he reaches out a hand.

And touches what seems to be a rune barrier that suddenly lit up and seem to encompass the entire area of the inn. The rune symbols upon glow with such energy the likes Zero has seldom seen before.

"Who are you?", he says to no one in particular, "To have such a powerful barrier that can stop even me?"

"No one special, really Just an old lady who runs a bookstore,", Madam Ekate answers as she steps out of the front door of the inn, "Though your master may have a different opinion."

"You are an acquaintance of my lord Cinolth?", Zero asks.

"We've met", Madam Ekate says as she comes up to the barrier, "A long time ago but we've met."

"Hmph, it seems odd that such a powerful person as yourself would wait till now to hinder my master's plan", Zero points out.

"Oh, I'm not hindering ole Cino's plans", Madam Ekate corrects, though she could easily tell that Zero didn't appreciate the nickname she gave to his master if his clench fist was anything to go off of, "I'm just hindering you. Your friend behind you can get by just fine and so can his little pet."

This sparks the dragon servant curiosity as he arches an eyebrow, "Really? Most peculiar barrier this is."

"You see, I figure if you join into the fray it would be terribly one-sided and I'm actually quite enjoying the show", Madam Ekate confesses, "So how about you and I sit back and place some bets on who will come out on top?"

Zero stares at the elderly woman in silence.

"Okay Mr. Tall, skinny, and silent, how about this? If your summons can defeat those brats, I'll take down this barrier and won't interfere while you take the girl", Madam Ekate pitches.

"And if you win?", Zero questions, "What am I to give to you?"

"Hmmm, let's see", Madam Ekate says as she stroke her chin, "How about you go away for the rest of the day and don't try anything funny until tomorrow morning."

"Hmph", Zero says as he goes over the bet in his head.

"Also, if that's not enough, I pretty sure Cinolth is still looking for the "_**Golden Claw of Sifeluly**", _Madam Ekate causing Zero's eyes to widen in surprise, "I may have information that could lead to its whereabouts."

"Do not jest with me, wench!", Zero suddenly shouts, "I don't know how you know about that but my master has been searching for that treasure for the last…."

"Two thousand three hundred and thirty-seven years, right?", Madam Ekate interrupts, "All because he believes that it will help him defeat the triple dragon lord alliance that keeping him from spreading his territory southward."

Zero takes a deep breath before speaking, "Fine, I accept your deal, but you better have the information or else..."

"Trust me, kid, I may spin the truth every now and then but I don't lie", Madam Ekate told him.

Zero glares at her for a moment before looking over his shoulder, "Yudiea, earn your master's favor and bring the girl to me."

Yudiea could only nod in response for he overheard the entire conversation between the two of them. He quickly mounts Mvarid and takes off toward the window which the Ceustodaemon crash through earlier. They seamlessly pass through the barrier and straight into the room where a shock Wendy, Katja, Deez, and Porlyusica, greeted them.

**Royal Stands Once More**

"Now while Romeo Conbolt is the main observation target, do not neglect the other members of Fairy Tail especially their dragon-slayers, but take special care to keep an eye on his father as well. The boy may have gotten his violent tendencies from him. While we're at it, I want information on his mother as well, particularly her current whereabouts", Princess Hisui instructs Sergeant Roger, "But be advise Sergeant, this is all secondary to keeping an eye on the blue-tattoo man."

"Your Majesty!", a guard screams as he coming bolting into the floor, breathing heavily. He takes but a moment to catch his breath before snapping with a salute, "Your Majesty, all preparations have been made! And if I may, Princess Hisui, the crowd is getting a little out of hand!"

The heir to the throne of Fiore looks out over the throngs of people occupying the Domu Flau and could easily hear the boos and hisses being shouted out and they were growing louder by the second, "It seems you are right, Corporal. Inform the staff that they may get the games underway."

**Moments Later**

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I WILL NOW BEGIN THE INTRODUCTIONS FOR THE EIGHT TEAMS COMPETING IN THE X791 GRAND MAGIC GAMES!", Chapati Lola shouted, "FIRST UP TO BAT, FAIRY TAIL!"

**A/N: The votes clearly stated that you guys wanted more harem action, so that's what you're going to get!** **Also, going to change some aspects of Minerva's magic.**

**Please Fav, Follow, or Review I'd you want**

**I'm really started to enjoy Dobengal and Minerva interactions. But anyway, Beth and Chelia are now questioning whether or not Romeo is a playboy? You know he's not. I know he's not. Wendy, Lindsay, and Katja know he is not, but they don't. Also, what is Madam Ekate thinking?**

**_Omake: (The original line for Acno to Jellal that I took out)_**

**"It truly is a joke; the title of "Wizard Saint", for that is all it is, a title. To have it is meaningless to someone like me.**** But seeing how you manage to trick the entire Ishgar Magic Council, impressive for a human, I will give you a word of advice. If you proceed to keep on this road where you hope all of your enemies are inferior to you; then in time you will know what it's like to lose, to feel so desperately**** that you're right yet you'll fail all the same. You can dread it, you can run from it, but your destiny will still arrive."**


End file.
